Vending machines have been used for many years for dispensing a variety of goods, ranging from clothing, to beverages, to food. Beverages may be dispensed in bottles, cans or into a cup or other suitable container.
In recent years, bottled water has been made available in vending machines. The increase in water purchases results from concerns that consumers have about the quality of tap water. Additionally, consumers find it convenient to carry water in bottles rather than looking for a source of water. There are, however, problems associated with the sale of bottles of water that are sized for individual usage. According to some records, 1.5 million tons of plastic are used to bottle water every year. These bottles have to be recycled or disposed of, both of which lead to pollution.
As an alternative to bottled water, many businesses provide water coolers or water dispensers. As disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,409,094 these may be coin-operated. Water dispensers usually provide both chilled and ambient temperature water from a five gallon carboy. The carboy is inverted into a reservoir, which is usually gravity fed. This means that for water to be released from the reservoir and carboy, air must replace the water. Accordingly, water dispensers of this type generally have an open reservoir to allow air exchange. Concern over the safety of these water dispensers has resulted in the development of closed system dispensers as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,222,531 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,442,960. While this overcomes the concern over cleanliness, the problem of a limited supply of water remains, as these are designed to deliver water from a five gallon carboy. Accordingly, they are not well suited for commercial sales of water.
Another approach to providing clean drinking water is to provide a reverse osmosis machine. These are attached to a water supply, most typically, a municipal water system, hence the constraint of limited water supply is overcome. The water passes through a series of filters in addition to undergoing reverse osmosis. Unfortunately, there have been many problems associated with the cleanliness of the filters, pipes and storage tanks for these machines. Despite these problems, reverse osmosis machines have been installed in, for example, shopping centres where they are coin operated.
It is an object of the invention to overcome the deficiencies in the prior art.